Gennady Golovkin (20-0, 17 KOs), one of two top Kazakh fighters around, had some easy work with WBA #4 Colombian Nilson Julio Tapia (14-3-1, 10 KOs) by knocking him out in three rounds to retain his WBA “regular” middleweight title for the first time.

Round one was fully in the Kazakh’s favour, who was a pure storm in the ring. The second stanza saw a tiny comeback from Tapia but the end was near. In the third, Golovkin landed a chilling right uppercut, pinned his opponent to the ropes and finished him off with a crushing left to the liver.

Tapia was stopped for the first time in his career. Golovkin, who gave a great present f to local fans on Kazakh Independence Day.